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A  WORLD 
SURVEY 


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ia  ^orlii  Surticp 


Rev.  a.  B.  LEONARD,  D.D. 

Corresponding  Secretary  Emeritus  of  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions 


Board  of  Foreign  Missions 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

150  Fifth  Avenue 
New  York 


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A  World  Survey 

HE  ministers  and  laymen  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
should  carefully  read  th  e  Annual 
Report  of  the  Board  of  Foreign 
for  1912  from  cover  to  cover. 
By  SO  doing  they  will  get  a  view  of 
our  foreign  work  such  as  cannot  be  ob¬ 
tained  elsewhere.  There  are' many  im¬ 
portant  volumes  extant  on  missions  in 
general  and  on  specific  fields,  but  they 
do  not  give  a  complete  survey  of  the 
fields  occupied  by  the  Methodist  Episco¬ 
pal  Church.  The  Annual  Report  alone 
gives  full  and  satisfactory  information. 
Here  are  found  the  facts  needed  as  a 
basis  for  addresses  and  sermons,  and  an 
answer  to  the  question  so  often  asked: 
Is  the  foreign  mission  enterprise  a  suc¬ 
cess  ?  This  report  might  be  entitled  the 
romance  and  reality  of  missions. 

Here  we  find  the  names  of  the  Board 
of  Managers  and  the  General  Committee ; 
the  Treasurer’s  Report  for  1912;  the  ap¬ 
propriations  for  1913;  the  names  of  the 
missionary  bishops  and  the  fields  to 


which  they  are  assigned;  the  names  of 
all  missionaries  of  the  Board  and  of  the 
Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  in 
alphabetical  order,  and  the  countries 
where  they  toil ;  and  a  summary  of  sta¬ 
tistics  including  all  matters  that  can  be 
expressed  by  numerals. 

A  World  Survey 

Preliminary  to  the  detailed  account  of 
the  several  countries  in  which  our  work 
is  carried  forward  is  A  Survey  of  the 
Fields,”  including  **The  Home  Base,” 
by  Dr.  S.  Earl  Taylor;  **India,  Malaysia 
and  the  Philippines,  South  America  and 
Mexico,”  by  Dr.  W.  F.  Oldham  Africa, 
China,  Japan,  Korea  and  Europe,”  by 
Dr.  F.  M.  North.  In  these  surveys  is 
given  a  perspective  of  the  world-encir¬ 
cling  sphere  of  our  missionary  activities. 

China 

And  now  let  us  make  a  rapid  journey 
through  our  missions,  beginning  wiih  the 
Republic  of  China,  until  recently  known 
as  the  Chinese  Empire,  with  its  4,000,000 
square  miles  of  territory  and  the  more 
than  400,000,000  people.  Our  first 
mission  in  this  great  country  was  founded 
in  1847,  in  the  city  of  Foochow.  There 
are  now  five  great  mission  centers  in  the 
Republic ;  Foochow,  Hinghwa,  Central 


China,  North  China  and  West  China,  and 
our  membership  is  aporoximately  40,000. 

The  reports  of  the  missionaries  and 
the  district  superintendents  give  descrip¬ 
tions  of  the  country ,  including  agricultural 
and  mineral  resources ;  business,  social, 
moral  and  political  conditions.  Their 
reports  furnish  reliable  and  satisfactory 
information  concerning  the  recent  revolu¬ 
tion,  that  dethroned  suddenly  the  most 
oppressive  and  most  corrupt  monarchy 
know  to  modern  times.  Having  read 
the  newspaper  reports  of  the  revolution, 
the  writer  is  prepared  to  say  that  the 
missionaries  and  district  superintendents 
of  our  five  Conferences  give  the  most 
satisfactory  accounts  of  the  events  as 
they  transpired  of  any  that  he  has  seen. 
The  information  is  first  hand  and 
thoroughly  reliable. 

Japan 

Our  report  takes  us  from  China  to 
Japan,  where  our  mission  was  founded 
in  1873.  In  1884  the  Japan  Mission 
became  an  Annual  Conference  and  in 
1899  the  South  Japan  Mission  was 
organized  into  an  Annual  Conference. 
In  May,  1907,  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
South  and  the  Methodist  Church  of  Can¬ 
ada  united  on  organizing  the  Japan 


Methodist  Church,  which  from  the  date 
named  has  been  self-governing.  The 
three  churches  named  continue  mission¬ 
ary  work  in  connection  with  the  new 
organization,  but  do  not  maintain  churches 
of  their  respective  denominations. 
However,  they  do  retain  the  ownership 
and  management  of  their  educational 
institutions,  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  owns  and  controls  a  publishing 
house  in  Tokyo.  We  publish  the  Japan 
Evangelist,  the  chief  Christian  paper  in 
Japan,  and  widely  disseminate  Christian 
literature.  We  support  and  control  the 
Anglo- Japanese  College  and  Theological 
School  in  Tokyo,  and  the  Chinzei  Gakuin, 
at  Nagasaki,  an  institution  of  high  school 
rank.  Although  its  capacity  is  large,  it 
is  crowded  to  the  limit. 

Korea 

Korea,  once  and  for  many  centuries 
the  Hermit  Kingdom,  is  now  a  province 
of  the  Japanese  Empire.  The  Koreans 
have  lost  their  earthly  kingdom,  but 
they  have  large  compensation  in  the 
founding  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  within 
their  bounds,  which  identifies  them  with 
a  world  kingdom  over  which  reigns  the 
King  of  Kings.  The  membership  of  the 
church  is  26,125  and  all  its  institutions 
are  prospering. 

_ 


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Southern  Asia 

Turning  our  steps  westward  we  enter 
the  great  mission  field  known  as  South¬ 
ern  Asia,  which  includes  India,  Burma, 
Malaysia,  Sumatra,  Borneo,  Java  and 
the  Philippine  Islands.  It  is  divided 
into  eight  Annual  Conferences  and  a 
Mission  Conference,  with  a  membership 
of  209,27 1 .  A  wonderful  mass  movement 
has  been  in  progress  in  this  vast  field  for 
several  years  and  seems  to  be  increasing 
in  momentum.  Bishop  Warne  says ;  A 
careful  observer  has  described  our  Indian 
revival  as  the  greatest  continual  revival 
movement  Methodism  has  ever  seen.  It 
began  in  1905  and  has  increased  in 
momentum  yearly  from  then  until  now. 
As  proof  of  this,  our  mission  alone  has 
had  over  200,000  baptisms  during  the 
past  eight  years.” 

A  missionary  writes:  **Last  week  I 
baptized  718  people  ...  I  am  olf  this 
evening  to  baptize  1 ,300  .  .  .  At  pres¬ 
ent  I  have  more  than  8,000  applicants 
for  baptism.”  Another  reports  762  bap¬ 
tisms;  another  131;  another  3,230  in 
one  year;  another  2,000;  another  3,605. 
These  are  specimens  of  what  is  going  on 
in  many  other  places.  Bishop  Warne 
continues :  This  marvelous  revival  has 

all  the  signs  of  genuineness  and  perma¬ 
nence.  It  began  with  great  demonstra- 


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tions  and  very  noisy  meetings,  with 
singing  and  shouting.  On  several  occa¬ 
sions  I  have  seen  the  jerks,  just  as  Peter 
Cartwright  saw  them.  I  have  seen 
members  become  unconscious  and  lie  in 
that  condition  for  hours  and  then  come 
out  with  their  countenances  lighted  with 
a  light  from  the  other  world.” 

All  other  departments  of  the  work  are 
prosperous — educational,  publishing  and 
philanthropic.  As  one  reads  of  the 
wonderful  progress  of  Christianity  from 
the  Himalayas  to  Singapore  and  the 
Philippine  Islands,  one  involuntarily 
exclaims  What  hath  God  wrought  ?  ” 

Africa 

From  Southern  Asia,  the  report  leads 
us  to  Africa,  where  our  first  foreign  mis¬ 
sion  was  founded  in  1833.  The  work 
in  Liberia,  so  long  at  a  standstill,  has 
taken  on  new  life  and  reports  7,686 
communicants.  Marked  progress  has  been 
made  among  native  tribes.  In  one  dis¬ 
trict  there  w^ere  1,000  baptisms  during 
one  year.  Among  the  Americo-Liberians, 
the  ruling  class  in  Liberia,  the  work  is 
everywhere  prosperous. 

In  the  East  Central  Africa  Mission 
Conference,  which  includes  the  work  in 
Portuguese  East  Africa  and  Southern 
Rhodesia,  there  is  stead)-  advance  along 


all  lines.  A  missionary  says :  ‘‘A  large 
portion  of  the  natives  living  in  the  terri¬ 
tory  occupied  by  our  mission  in  Rhodesia 
are  in  a  state  of  semi-civilization  .  .  . 
The  transition  period  is  full  upon  them. 
The  question  is  no  longer  one  of  emanci¬ 
pation  from  superstition  and  savagism. 
They  are  coming  out  in  spite  of  any 
effort  to  stop  them.  How  shall  we  guide 
them  ?  What  shall  we  do  with  them  ? 
.  .  .  It  is  an  opportunity  that  means 
life  or  death  to  the  native  and  for  us  it 
spells  responsibility  to  God.  ’’  The  pres¬ 
ent  membership  is  5,059. 

The  West  Central  Africa  Mission  Con¬ 
ference  is  in  the  Portuguese  Province  of 
Angola  and  extends  into  the  interior,  in¬ 
cluding  the  Lunda  country,  200  miles 
from  north  to  south,  and  900  miles  from 
west  to  east.  The  Conference  also  in¬ 
cludes  the  Madeira  Islands.  The  prog¬ 
ress  is  slow,  but  a  missionary  says :  The 
outlook  is  as  hopeful  and  promising  as 
one  could  expect.  We  have  several 
cordial  invitations  from  important  chiefs 
to  establish  stations  near  them  .  .  .  The 
people  are  wide  awake  and  alert,  even 
eager.  ’  ’ 

Our  youngest  Africa  mission  was  es¬ 
tablished  in  1908,  with  headquarters  at 
Algiers  on  the  Mediterranean.  Besides 
Algiers,  there  are  stations  at  Oran,  Con- 


stantine,  Tunis  and  other  points.  This 
mission  was  founded  for  the  purpose  of 
making  an  attack  upon  Mohammedanism 
in  one  of  its  strongholds.  In  the  terri¬ 
tory  included  in  the  missions  there  is  a 
Moslem  population  of  about  15,500,000. 
There  is  also  a  mixed  population  consist¬ 
ing  of  French,  Italian  and  Spanish, 
numbering  about  1,500,000.  The  assault 
upon  the  religion  of  the  false  prophet  is 
in  the  beginning  and  contemplates  a 
long,  intense  and  costly  struggle,  but  the 
final  outcome  will  be  victory,  for  He 
must  reign  till  He  hath  put  all  enemies 
under  His  feet.  ’  ’  Our  total  membership 
in  Africa  is  13,572. 

South  America 

We  now  cross  the  Atlantic  to  South 
America,  where  our  Church  was  organ¬ 
ized  in  1836,  in  the  City  of  Buenos 
Aires.  From  1836  to  1864  the  work 
was  limited  to  English  speaking  people. 
Since  the  latter  date  the  work  has  ex¬ 
tended  amongst  the  natives  in  Argentina, 
Uruguay  and  Paraguay.  Our  English 
Church  in  Buenos  Aires  has  recently 
been  described  as  a  veritable  light¬ 
house  as  well  as  a  beehive  of  activity.  ” 
The  Spanish  work  is  aggressive  and  in¬ 
creasingly  successful. 

Crossing  the  Andes  range  we  enter 


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Chile  to  find  that  the  Chile  Conference 
stretches  along  the  Pacific  Coast  from 
Punta  Arenas  on  the  Strait  of  Magellan 
to  Peru,  including  the  Republic  of  Boli¬ 
via.  The  schools  at  Concepcion,  Santi¬ 
ago,  Iquique,  in  Chile,  and  at  La  Paz  and 
Cochabamba  in  Bolivia,  are  prosperous 
and  the  evangelistic  work  is  making 
steady  headway.  The  North  Andes  Mis¬ 
sion  Conference  includes  all  South 
America  not  included  in  the  two  Con¬ 
ferences  above  named,  viz,  :  Peru,  Ecua¬ 
dor,  Colombia,  Panama,  Venezuela  and 
the  Guianas.  We  have  work  only  in 
Peru  and  Panama,  so  that  there  is  much 
land  still  to  be  possessed.  The  intoler¬ 
ance  of  the  Roman  hierarchy  makes 
rapid  progress  impossible,  but  public 
sentiment  is  becoming  more  and  more 
liberal  and  the  future  is  increasingly 
hopeful.  In  Panama,  along  the  canal 
strip,  evangelistic  and  school  work  has 
the  right  of  way.  The  membership  in 
South  America  is  10,943. 

Mexico 

Following  the  Isthmus,  we  pass 
through  Central  America  into  Mexico 
and  find  ourselves  in  the  Mexico  Confer¬ 
ence.  In  Mexico  revolution  has  succeeded 
revolution  for  two  years  and  still  there  is 
unrest  everywhere.  It  is  amazing  to 


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know  that  in  the  midst  of  all  the  turmoil 
and  strife  our  work  should  be  so  little 
disturbed  and  that  there  has  been  neither 
loss  of  life  or  property.  Dr.  Butler 
says:  In  our  missionary  families  there 
were  fourteen  people  and  twenty -six 
in  the  families  of  our  native  workers,  not 
one  of  whom  was  injured.  We  have 
three  valuable  properties  in  Mexico  City 
and  the  only  damage  was  that  of  broken 
glass  .  .  .  Indeed  shells  fell  and  ex¬ 
ploded  on  every  side  of  us,  one  of  them 
just  in  front  of  our  door,  and  yet  our 
building,  which  protected  over  twenty 
people  through  the  ordeal,  was  not 
touched  by  anything  but  bullets.  We 
seemed  to  dwell  under  the  shadow  of 
the  Almighty.”  Except  occasional 
temporary  suspension,  the  schools  have 
been  continued  and  all  departments  of 
the  work  have  been  maintained.  Our 
membership  is  7,127. 

Europe 

Following  our  guide,  we  recross  the 
Atlantic  to  glance  at  our  work  in  Europe, 
which  stretches  from  Hammerfest,  Nor¬ 
way,  so  near  the  midnight  sun  that  for 
several  months  in  midsummer  there  is 
no  night  there,”  to  Sicily  at  the  ex¬ 
treme  southern  point  of  Italy.  The 
countries  we  occupy  are  Norway,  Den- 


it 


mark,  Sweden,  Finland,  Russia,  Austria- 
Hungary,  Germany,  Switzerland,  France, 
Italy  and  Bulgaria,  where  we  have  in  all 
eight  Annual  Conferences,  two  Mission 
Conferences  and  two  missions,  with  a 
total  membership  of  71,796.  In  all 
these  countries  Methodism  has  taken 
deep  root  and  is  steadily  moving  for¬ 
ward.  Our  total  foreign  membership  is 
approximately  400,000. 

We  have  made  a  rapid  survey  of  our 
vast  mission  fields,  with  the  hope  that 
many  ministers  and  laymen  will  send  for 
the  Annual  Report  and  read  it  from  first 
page  to  last.  It  is  sent  out  free  for 
postage,  which  is  14  cents  per  copy. 

New  York  City. 


BOARD  OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 
METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
150  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York 

2$  cents  per  hundred 


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-A 


